The future of public sector office space

Has the office changed…”for good”? The future of public sector office space

Following on from our webinar series and fantastic roundtable discussion at UKREiiF, attended by over 20 local authorities from around the UK, we’re pulling together key thinking and case studies to share approaches, address your concerns and provide ideas and opportunities for the use of public sector office space. 

Variety and creativity are essential players. Some authorities still have over 30 office sites across their areas and others had started rationalising assets even before Covid. Together we’ve shared concerns and opportunities such as: demand for space midweek while empty buildings on Mondays and Fridays opportunities to support other sectors and business start-ups historic buildings that are beautiful yet expensive to maintain shared space with paying tenants ground floors opened to the public for hot desking and meeting turning our civic offices into boutique hotels and housing what rationalising space to urban locations could mean for more rural localities

We recognised too while employees can be encouraged back to the workplace, that flexible hybrid working is the new normal. There’s still a particular need for new and young employees to have quality conversations and face to face interactions as part of their learning experience and to develop relationships.

The future of public sector office space

The pressure is on to find efficiency savings while increasing productivity, supporting staff health and wellbeing, improving customer services and growing the economy. The demands on our public estate are many and we also don’t want to run half-empty buildings. 

What are your priorities and principal concerns as you seek to shape the future of your public estate, while supporting your communities and economy?

We will deliver a new programme of case studies and webinars to explore innovative and creative ideas to maximise the value of publicly-owned assets and the impact they have on the communities they exist within. We will be looking further at how working culture in the UK will evolve.

If the above resonates with you, please get in touch by using the contact form on this page or contact me, Ingrid directly here or any of the Place team at Local Partnerships.